Voltage regulation tap selector switch with radial contact means



Jan. 5, 1965 R. PENSIS 3,164,689

VOLTAGE REGULATION TAP SELECTOR SWITCH WITH RADIAL CONTACT MEANS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 25. 1961 INVENTOR RENE FEMS/S ATTORNEY Jan. 5, 1965 R. PENSIS 3,164,689

VOLTAGE REGULATION TAP SELECTOR SWITCH WITH RADIAL CONTACT MEANS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 23 1961 I INVENTOR RENE FEMS/5 ATTORNEY Jan. 5, 1965 R. PENSIS 3,164,689

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT CH TH RADIAL C NTACT MEANS Filed March 23. 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR E PEA/SIS SWITCH The tap selectors for switches used in the voltage regulation of loaded transformers usually comprise cylindrical casings formed of insulating rods disposed peripherally United StatesPatent tap.

and vertically in relation to the wall of themain tank of i the transformer. Fixed contacts connected to the taps of the transformer windings are secured on the rods. case of 3-phase switches, the three phases are located one above theother. This arrangement is considered conventional when applied to so-called concentric-winding transformers. F

In said concentric windings, the regulating taps are gen- In the I ice In transformers, with regulation when on load, the switching from one tap to the next is made without interrupting the .load, owing to a switch which momentarily shunts the contact taps. i

I This regulating switch must permit: a

(l) The selection or choice of the regulating winding ',(2) The switching proper, that is, the passing from one tap to'another without interrupting the load.

These two operations are usually carried out by two dilierent elements: a selector and a breaker.

The diagram or FIG. 1 shows a simple case of the phase regulation of a transformer when a selecting switch 1 is in position 2. As is known, the choic'eiof a tap is made on the selector S by the cascade displacement'of brushes B and B In order to travel the thirteen regu- ,lating positions provided the'present case, brush B erally made on the outside windings in order that the con' 1 nection cabling lie at the same level between the taps is to be applied to transformers of the shell-core type In successively pass on the fixed contacts of the odd-numberedseries 'c, e, g,;i, k, m and o by joining them successively with a common point S whereas brush B pass succes'sively on the fixed contacts of the even-numbered series d, f, h, j, l and n by joining them successively to a common point S These common points S and S are joined to breaker R.

, In such breaker R, a movable support member ms T carries aplurality of contacts coupled to one terminal of such cases, the regulating taps providedon the windings T are located on the upper portionthereof.

To reach the fixed contact of the selectors, the connection must travel a long and sinuous path and this arrangement is detrimental tothe good insulation of the conductlre windings while a fixed support member fs carries a corresponding plurality of contacts divided into two groups which are coupled via adequate impedances iprespectively to two successive taps of the windings by means of S and S The. moving support member is moved with respect to the stationary [support member and pairs of contacts are sequentially connected so that the tap may tors and further requires great precautions in making the connections.

One object ,of the invention is to provide a selector which, when used with shell-core transformers, eliminates the above noted objections. l

The 'invention'is. characterized that the'contactai two groups located at each end of an insulating cylinder and are equally spaced in each group. The effective surwhich are joined to the regulating taps, are distributed in faces of the contacts are located outsidethe cylinder and their connecting lugs to the conductors, joined to the regulating contacts, are located inside the said cylinder.

The invention is also characterized in the fact that the insulating cylinder lies horizontally, that is, normal tothe late'ralfwall of the transformer tank- Other features of the invention will appear as the following description proceeds, having reference to the an- I pertain to a non-limitative embodinexed drawings which ment.

- FIG. 1 is a diagram of the regulation of one phase of the invention.

be changed ,withoutany interruption of current flow in the load, the fraction of the winding between the taps being shuntedby the impedances ip during the passage from one tap to'anotlier, for examplefrom tap d to tap e afterv V displacement or" brush B from tap at to tap e. 'The brush Bg iS then. displaced to the tap f and the same operation is continued until the required voltage'is reached.

In the case of a three-phase transformer, the selector comprises three devices similar to those described above.

The brushes B of the three devices move simultaneously and the same is true of the three brushes B 7 sulating tubes which form a casing; the said casing supof the selector of f porting the fixed contacts which are distributed in horizontal planes, positioned oneabove the other.

Y The fixed contacts'of each phaseare distributed in two superposed horizontal planes; one plane for the odd-num-' bered contacts and one planeifor the even-numbered contacts. The selector thus has six layers of superposed contacts, three layers for the odd-numbered contacts and anon point S and to one common point S by means of one brushB and one brush B Thecommon points S and 8 are formed as rings (there being one ring per layer) and joined to breakerR.

described in the simple Toothed pinions Brushes B and B asweil as rings 5; and S are located insidethe selector, whereas, the tap connections to the The odd-numbered fixed tap contacts, that is, contacts c, e, g, i, k, m, n, of the three phases are evenly dis tributed on one of the extreme faces of insulating cylinder all of saidocld-numbered contacts of each phase taking up one-third of the periphery of the insulating cylinder 5. The effective surface of the contacts'face outwardly of the cylinder whereas their connection lugs l3 to the winding taps (FIGS. 3 and 5) face inwardly of the same cylinder. i

Three brushes 3 B 3 are spread apart 120 and are secured onto an insulating movable ring 6 exteriorly concentric to cylinder 5 which carries, on a 240 segment, a toothed portion forming rack '7. A toothed pinion: 3

meshes with rack '7 allowing,'by itsrotaticn, the move ment of brushes B and the placing in contact of each of the fixed contacts of one phase with common points ohi tained by means of segments S S S respectively corresponding to the three phases.

.The even-numbered fixed tap contacts, that is, contacts b, (1, h, ',Z and n, are distributed on the other end of cylinder 5. Three brushes 8 B B are also dis I posed 120 apart-and secured onto a movable ring iii exteriorly concentric to cylinder 5 and also having a toothed. portion 12. it is possible by means of the three brushes to bring together each of the fixed contacts of one phase with one of the three segments S S S respectively corresponding to the three phases by the rotation of toothed pinion ll.

The three. segments S S S and the three seg- 'ments S S are connected to' the contacts of:

this arrangement, the spacing between two adjacent contacts belonging to two diiierent phases can be the same as that of two consecutive contacts of one phase. It is therefore only necessary, in order to cover the regulating range a second time, to continue the movement in the same direction. The brushes B can move from contacts 0 of one phase to contacts 0 of. the following phase; the same being true of the brushes B which can move from contacts n to contacts b since segments S 3 13, S as well as segments 82A, S S are insulated from one another.

An embodiment of such a selector is diagrammatically illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5. It is made up of an insulating cylinder 5 on which are secured, at theperiphery of one of its ends, the odd-numbered fixed contacts P and at the other the even-numbered fixed contacts pp of the three phases as shown in FI GS. 2 and 3. Each of these contacts has the form of a U, one leg of which lies outside and is parallelto the generating lines of cylinder 5 and the other leg is inwardly. of the cylinder and form connecting lugs 13. p f

In their outer portion, the contacts of each phase are successively placed in communication by means of brushes B or B with segments S ur S associated therewith. Brushes B are secured at their center to ring 6 and'brushes B to ring 10,

Each of the said rings rotate-on two circular rolling paths 14 and 14' through the medium of rollers 15 and 15' arranged; in groups of 2. The groups are secured onto the rings and spaced 120 from 'one another.

. the' Maltese cross type drive CM. I i

A driving plate 19 i eceives its motion frornan electric control box, not shown, bymeans bran insulating shaft the threefixed support members js'ofthe breaker R as j (PEG. 2).

anismof the Maltese cross type, as shown in PEG 7. Forinstance, tliistmechanism drives pinion 8 in the caseyof the phase regulation.

and ii are actuated step-by-step, in one direction or the other, by means or" a knownmechfirst place; this pinion which mesheswith rack 7 produces the rotation of movable ring '6 at such an angle that the I brushes B B B jump, for instance,;from contacts 0 to contacts c. This operation is followed by tuggling of breaker R which carries the load from segments S to segments 8 In the next operation, the Maltese cross mechanismdrives pinion 11' which due to'its meshing H discharge hood 2'7.

It is obvious that modifications can be made to the 'above' described apparatus without departing from the g with rack l fiwill pivot movable ring it} tosuch an angle the three brushesB after having gone. through the regulating range a first time by successively moving, on the one hand, on contacts 0 too and, onthe otherhanion contacts b to 11 start the same cycle again aitcr selecting switch 1 has either reversed the direction of the regulatfined in the appended claims. a I i The embodiments of the invention-in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as .follows:' v l A tap selector ing winding or transferred the reserve winding (position 3 and position 1 of selecting switch 1 shown in FLG. 1).

Because, in the instant invention, the contacts of one phase are consecutive and in the same numerical order asthe contacts of the two other phases, the maximum voltage between the last contact of'one phase and the first contact of the following phase is at the most equal .to the total regulating winding phase voltage. Swing to 16 and two conical pinions 17 and '18. By means of a pinZtl, driving plate 1%; which makes a half turn for each position, successively hooks onto Maltese cross 21, integral with pinion 8, and Maltese cross 22, integral with pinion ll, in one direction or the other according to the direction of rotation of shaft 16. a v

This will permit, through the medium of racks 7 and 12, to rotate movable rings 6 and 10 more thus change the position of brushes B and B The assembly is supported by a horizontalinsulator 23 provided with a transverse plate 24 guiding the con- ,ductors up which join the regulating taps tomthe connection lugs 13.

The selector is protected by means of an anti-brush spirit of the instant invention, the scope of which is defor switches used in the voltage regulation of loaded three-phase transformers having regulating taps distributed on the upper portion-of the transformer windings, said selector comprising; an insulating cylinder; evenly spaced tapcontacts divided into two groups, one group located at one end of said cylinder and comprising the odd-numbered tap contacts of. each phase of the transformer and one second group located at the other end of the cylinder and comprising the even-numbered tap contacts of each phase ofthe transformer; the

ellective surface of each saidtap-oontacts being located outside said cylinder andthe connecting lug of'said tap contacts being located inside said cylinder; a rotatable annular 'ring surrounding said cylinder near each group of tap contacts; supporting means for said rings disposed 5 to roll on the outer surface of said cylinder; means for rotating said rings each after the other bysuccessive angular displacements corresponding to the spacing of the adjacent tap contacts; three arcuate conducting segments secured on said cylinder opposite thetap contacts with respectto each ring; said segments encircling substantially a third of the circumference of said cylinder but being electricallyinsulated from each other by sufficient gaps; a brush corresponding to each segment, fixed to said ring; said brushes being spaced 120 from each other and adapted to successively join the tap contacts to the segments. a

6 References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,253,183 8/41 Le Count. 5 2,399,943 8/46 Sealey. v

3,014,999 12/ 61 Pensis 200-8 FOREIGN PATENTS 960,303 7/49 Germany.

10 BERNARD A. GILHEANY, 7 Primary Examiner. 0

JOHN F. COUCH, Examiner. 

